The film has an unusual blend of both drama and comedy. BORMAN says, "for some reason, after I explain the concept, people are categorizing it as a SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE. If that sells tickets, then go ahead, however I'd call it closer to DAVID HOLTZMAN'S DIARIES or an ALBERT BROOKS comedy before I call it a SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPES. However, now that I think about it, SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE would have made a great title." When it came to raising the financing through private resources, producer RICHARD RADDON said, "We put together a business prospectus, set a start date and started working toward that date." The business prospectus made its way to a rather unusual prospective investor, the owner of a pizza parlor in the San Femando valley. This particular investor happened to have a substantial amount of liquid capital to invest. Raddon laughs as he recalls the day they went to sign the contract and collect the investment check only to receive an unexpected briefcase. Needless to say the production was never at a loss for cash on hand. Director Arthur Borman states, "We still pulled some of our classic gorilla filmmaking tactics that we did on ...AND GOD SPOKE. For example, we needed a video camera for part of the film. We purchased a top of the line HI-8 camera, shot all the necessary scenes, and returned the camera back to the appliance store as new. When they asked us why we were returning, we said, 'we hardly used it'. The truth is, we shot over fifty hours with it during that month." After the film was in the can it was shown to a few individuals including Academy Award winning sound supervisor Lon Bender who was excited by the unique style and experimental narrative in the film. Lon explains "once I saW the footage from SHOOTING LILY, I knew that it was the type of film that Soundelux Entertainment Group should be involved in producing. The innovative story structure coupled with the raw theme of exposing marital relationships makes SHOOTING LILY a truly unique independent film." The biggest challenge of the project was to make sure that the home movies were incredibly engaging. "Most people who watch someone's wedding videos wind up getting bored out of their skull after two minutes. But we have a couple who are very sympathetic and more importantly, they like to have fun. They go out often and do things," BORMAN says, "David and Lily Hitchcock have fun everywhere, even hanging at their home, and that's apparent through their home movies."
In fact, all of the actors in the film are improvisers either through THE GROUDLINGS or CHICAGO'S SECOND CITY. A few of them were even in ...AND GOD SPOKE, including MIKE HITCHCOCK and TED MICHAELS (who played the first assistant director and goofy production assistant respectively). Through the SECOND CITY connection the filmmakers were also able to approach RICHARD KIND from the hit television show MAD ABOUT YOU to play the florist in the film.
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